Cinta larga

Cinta larga ("Broad belt") is the name used to refer to several groups of native indios who live in western Brazil, near the border between the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso. There were 1,440 individuals as of 2006.

The name "Broad Belt" (Cinta Larga) had been used to refer to groups of indians who wore a kind of belt, and built large and long houses. This group belongs to a greater ethnic and cultural group, the Tupi.

Language and population

The Cinta Larga language belongs to the Tupi Monde family. In 1969 there were around 2500 people in the group. In 1981 the population was reduced to less than 500 people. After that, the tribe experienced a renewed growth in number, reaching a total of 1302 individuals in 2001.

Identification and location

The Cinta Larga people don't have a general term that they use to refer to themselves, except for the nickname "Broad Belt" which they adopted because of contacts with the Brazilian society. Their word for "we", "us" or "native people" is "pãzérey" (pã-, personal pronoun, 1ª person. plural; zét, person; -ey, plural). The Cinta Larga say: "We don’t give a name, the ones who give names are the others".

The traditional land of this group is the border between Rondônia and Mato Grosso, from the left bank of the Juruena River, near the Vermelho River, up to the headwaters of the Juina Mirim River. Thei live in several indigenous lands: Roosevelt, Serra Morena and Parque Aripuanã, which span over an area covering 2.7 million hectares.

The population is distributed into three large groupings. In the areas around the Tenente Marques and Eugênia rivers there are the villages of Paábiey. Near the Capitão Cardoso and Roosevelt rivers there are the Pabirey. Near the Vermelho, Amarelo and Branco rivers, there are the Paepiey. All of these terms refer to a geographic position of these people.

The FUNAI defined four contiguous indigenous lands, within the territory inhabited by the Cinta Larga. They are the Aripuanã Park, the Roosevelt area, the Serra Morena area and the Aripuanã area.

External links

• Cinta larga on socioambiental.org, in English